Safe and Sound
by iLoveGale
Summary: Gale volunteers for the Hunger Games. How will Peeta become involved? What will happen? How will Katniss and Gale survive? Read to find out :
1. Chapter 1

**Safe and Sound**

Intro

* * *

"Ready for the reaping?" Gale says, looking at me.

"As ready as I'll ever be." I shrug.

"Wear something pretty," he says flatly. We walk in opposite directions.

After I get ready for the event, Prim and my mother and I join everyone in the square. Gale and I exchange bored looks. Hopefully we can just get this over with quickly. After I look away, I glance back at Gale's face for a moment. He's looking at me with genuine concern, his brow furrowed in frustration. As soon as our eyes meet, he looks away quickly. Maybe I just imagined his worried facial expression.

He couldn't actually be scared, could he? The brave, strong Gale I know would never worry for himself. None of his family members are in the reaping today. Could he be nervous for me?

"Ladies first, as usual," says Effie Trinket in her capitol accent. _Not Prim, _I think. _Please, not her._

Effie's hand swims around the bowl until she selects a paper. She takes a breath as I hold my breath. "Primrose Everdeen!" Suddenly everything is in slow motion. Is this happening? No. It can't be. Prim's name was only in there once. Suddenly, my feet are moving. This is not happening.

"I volunteer as tribute!"

"How exciting!" trills Effie. "Now for the male tribute." She digs her hand into the bowl. "Pe-"

"I volunteer," says a low voice. A voice that I would recognize anywhere. Gale.

"It seems we have another volunteer!" Effie claps as Gale walks towards the stage. I'm staring at him, my mouth hanging slightly limp. He won't meet my gaze. He knows I'm angry.

Saying goodbye to Prim was the hardest. Now I must focus on surviving. Dinner was an interesting affair. I've never seen so much food in my life. After bathing, I changed into clothes softer than anything I've ever felt. Now, sitting in my room on the capitol train after dinner, I feel the lonely and worried.

Before I even know what I'm doing, I find myself knocking on Gale's door. As soon as the door opens, I go into his arms without hesitation. We stand in the doorway for I don't know how long. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it just feels right to be with Gale. We get along easily. He's my best friend, but could he ever be more? Could I ever love him the way a woman loves her husband?

I suddenly feel extremely aware of how close we are. How his hand rests on the small of my back while his free hand strokes my hair. It's so innocent and gentle. I enjoy our embrace more than I should. We fit together so perfectly.

"Gale?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Catnip?" he asks as he looks down at me. When did he get so tall?

"What are we going to do?" When the words leave my mouth, I see a sadness creep into his eyes.

"I don't know," he whispers. I've never seen Gale this vulnerable before.

He stares into my eyes intently. I cock my head to the side as if to say, _What are you thinking?_

Without warning, he lifts my face to his. His lips are warm and spicy; they taste faintly of cinnamon. At first I'm not sure what to do; he's like my brother! After a few seconds though, my lips melt into his. It's the most pleasant thing I've ever felt. An excited feeling sits in my stomach. When he pulls away, we look into each other's eyes again. Slowly a grin spreads across Gale's face. "I've always wanted to do that," he says.

And suddenly I realize, I've always wanted to do it too.

* * *

END CHAPTER

**a/n: **Sorry that it's so short, I didn't want the introduction to be very long. Chapters will be much longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

I woke up from a bad dream, panting and entirely too warm. Kicking off my covers, I got up to stare out my window. It's started to get a bit lighter outside. After I stand at the window for an immeasurable amount of time, I crawl back into bed but sleep doesn't come. Suddenly there's a quiet knock on my door. At first, I'm not sure if I'm actually hearing anything, but after a second I get up and check the door, expecting Gale.

"Katniss?" Peeta Mellark says as he steps into the room.

"Peeta?" I ask, shocked to see a stocky blonde boy instead of the tall dark one I was expecting on the other side of the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I snuck onto the train."

"Why?" It was so early in the morning, I couldn't tell if it was a dream or not. I had barely even spoken to Peeta back in District 12, and now suddenly he's knocking on my door?

"I felt so bad that Gale volunteered for me, I didn't know what to do."

"So you snuck onto the capitol train?" Kind of impressive, actually.

"Yeah...And I just figured I'd go from here."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll figure it out in the morning. Can I sleep in your bathtub?"

"Yeah, of course Peeta."

"Catnip? Catnip? Katniss!" Another knocking on my door, except this time it wasn't so gentle.

"Gale..." I murmured, stretching. "Gale!" I sat straight up. What would Gale think if he found Peeta in my room?

"Gale," I said, putting on a smile as I opened the door and shut it behind me. "Let's go to your room."

"Oh, okay," he said, obviously confused. "I've been knocking on your door for ten minutes. We'll be in the Capitol soon and tomorrow's our first day of training."

I nodded and said, "I know."

We exchanged glances, and unlike mine, his look was not worried.

"You want to, um, get breakfast?" Gale asked me. He seemed nervous about something, though.

"Sure."

We walked into the dining room area. Effie was pacing back and forth, flustered. Peeta was sitting at the dining table.

"We can work this out," she said calmly.

"What's going on?" Gale demanded. Peeta looked down at the table.

Effie seemed to be speechless, which was unlike her.

"I felt so guilty that you volunteered for me, Gale," Peeta said glumly. "I felt like I should be the one to go into the Arena. My name was picked. It wasn't your fate."

Gale shook his head slowly and said, "It was a fate I chose. Katniss goes, I go. We have each others backs."

"I just don't know what we're going to do!" Effie said.

"How about this," Gale said. "The capitol's just looking for good TV, right?" Effie nodded. "So let's give them good TV," Gale continued.

"Ooh, I've got one." Effie interrupted, starting to sound absurdly excited. "Peeta will be the boy who's in love with Katniss! That's why he snuck onto the train. He risked his life for Katniss. Oh this will be just perfect, the Capitol will eat it up."

Peeta's face was bright pink. "Are you sure that's the only way?" he asked.

"There's not much else we could do." Effie sat down in a large chair.

Haymitch, who I didn't notice was here the whole time, picks himself up from the couch and stumbles over to us. "The woman's right."

Peeta nods solemnly.

We arrive in the Capitol shortly after, and Effie makes an appointment to speak with someone. Gale kept trying to hold my hand but Effie did not approve; she wants me to play along with Peeta as well. Everyone in the Capitol seemed ecstatic to see us. Nobody really noticed Peeta. Once we reach the main building where we're staying, Effie and Haymitch disappear with Peeta. Someone shows us to our floors. We have Floor 12, of course. More fancy furniture surrounds us. I decided to take a nap, so I crawl into the oversize bed and wait for sleep to come. After a while, voices awake me from my daze. Emerging from my room, I see everyone sitting at the table.

"Sit down, Katniss," Effie says politely. I nod. Gale looks at me and raises his eyebrows a little.

"So here is what's going to happen," Haymitch says soberly. "The gamemakers have allowed Peeta to enter as a tribute. All three of you will go into the Arena."

"They allowed that?" I ask.

"Like Gale said, they just want good TV. Peeta is going to play the lover boy card. It's very important that we play our roles right. If the capitol isn't convinced, you're all goners. I will talk to all of you one on one later. Now all of you are going to meet your stylists. Peeta, I imagine they've found one for you too."

After being polished and primped, I barely recognized myself. Seeing Gale standing outside my room sent my heart beating in little flutters. He looked even better after they cleaned him up, but they didn't change a lot. He was already breathtaking. He opens the door and lets himself in before I walk in behind him.

"You look great," he says, taking me in.

"Is it really that bad?" I cringe.

"They changed you a little, but you're still my Catnip," he says as he sits down on my bed.

"What's training going to be like tomorrow?" I start to pace the room. "I wonder how the interviews will go. What will they think of Peeta? How are we going to pretend to like eachother?"

Gale laughs and says, "Calm down! Everything will work out." As I pace by him again, he grabs me and pulls me on the bed.

I lay with my head on his chest as he strokes my hair. I could not wish for a more perfect moment.

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! My internet was down for a while but now it's back and I promise to update regularly.


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